Monday, May 29, 2006

The Pennsylvania Republican civil war

When Mark Harris was born, John Perzel was wrapping up his third term in the state House.But Harris - a self-styled Reaganite who upset a longtime Republican House incumbent this month - showed no deference when asked about the future of the powerful speaker of the House.

"John Perzel has to go," Harris, 21, barely of legal age to serve in Harrisburg, told KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh the day after his primary win. "He is out of touch with the rest of the Republican Party. I think he is out of touch with the rest of the state of Pennsylvania."....One House Republican compared Perzel (R., Phila.) and his leadership team to "George Custers. I have some major concerns with those who led us into this ambush, with those who led us into this slaughter, with the George Custers who led us into this massacre," said Rep. Will Gabig (R., Cumberland), who fended off a GOP primary challenger.

"The question now is do we continue with the same people who got us here and hope for the best in November, hope more people don't get their heads taken off, or do we make changes?"If the Republicans keep a majority and Perzel survives as speaker you can expect Mark Harris (if he wins) to be the junior member of the special committee on tire recycling.

2 comments:

will he have equal or lesser power then the tiresBut good for Mark and he will won in november, If a loser like Stepenspon can win that siaitirct then mark can, he did not thing to piss off local republicans ao stepenson;s backers will pull for him, and Sanotrum will back him. Alos he will get most of the stae Club for Growth money becuase all thier other primary victoires were in easy Republican seats

While we were sorting through some old photos and clippings from my grandmother's house I came across a cartoon I'll have to scan very carefully. It shows LBJ at his desk in the Oval Office, with piles of papers marked "VIET NAM" "CIVIL RIGHTS" and so on. An aide is handing him a paper marked "REPUBLICAN SPLIT". The caption of the cartoon says "The News Isn't All Bad." History repeats itself, maybe...